A 1929 Dr. Seuss cartoon with images of black men for sale and featuring a racial slur is on offer from Los Angeles auction house Nate D. Sanders Fine Autographs & Memorabilia. The auction house makes no secret of the drawing's nature, billing it as “very early work … with shockingly racist content." Seuss had published his first drawing two years earlier, in 1927, in the Saturday Evening Post. The drawing on offer at Sanders, made when Theodor Seuss Geisel was 25 years old, is from the satirical Judge magazine. It is titled, Cross-Section of the World's Most Prosperous Department Store, and shows customers shopping for items that will make their lives more, not less, difficult. One panel shows the insect department, where you can “pick out a fly for your ointment." In the engineering department, you can find “first-class monkey wrenches to throw in your machinery." Dr. Seuss, Cross-Section of The World's Most Prosperous Department Store, 1929. Courtesy Nate D. Sanders Fine Autographs & Memorabilia, Los Angeles. The bottom panel, the largest, shows two dozen black men, caricatured with jet-black skin and large red lips, being offered for sale. The text in the drawing refers to an expression for an important fact that's kept secret and may cause harm, and may refer to an escaped slave in hiding. It originated in the US in the mid-19th century, while the Underground Railroad was active. Tagged at $20,000, the drawing measures about 20 inches high and is available for bidding until 7 p.m. Thursday. In unoffensive Seuss-related news: an unpublished Dr. Seuss book, What Pet Should I Get?, was unearthed at the author's California home recently; it will be published this summer (see New, Priceless Dr. Seuss Children's Book Found in Late Author's Home). Also this summer, a museum devoted to his work will open in June (see The World's First Dr. Seuss Museum Set to Open in Author's Hometown of Springfield).

In the US, egotism has marred the Afrikan struggle for self-determination to a large extent. Our leadership has been unable to unify even when in the same camp espousing the same ideology or spiritual system. Even the Afrikan centered communities have suffered the same fate. This is extremely unfortunate, and particularly contradictory for the latter community because the essence of Afrikan thought is unity. The very organization of most Afrikan society, Kingship, developed from the idea of unity. And it was not simply an operational unity but a unity of worldview--a cosmological unity. It was a unity achieved through harmony and reciprocity. Whenever our enemies have attacked Afrikan systems throughout history, it is the notions of unity, harmony, and reciprocity that they are actually attacking. But it is important to remember that Afrikan societies were not static utopias; they were living organisms subject to the laws of Nature. One of the first lessons learned is that people, and society, must be proactive, and make an effort to support the inherent order and harmony in Nature/Creation. So that even though Afrikan proverbs, the structure of society, communalism, and customs, the elders designed to lessen a person's over-evaluation of self or individualism, it lessened its development but did not eliminate it altogether. Hence, society had extra safeguards, such as secret societies or societies of secrets as Molefi Asante calls them, and new years celebrations that assisted in keeping these types of persons, who would be classified as "witches" (using a Western concept) in check. Again we are referring to people who have developed a greater sense of self-importance than communal society felt tolerant of. As I showed in my blog on the nkang'a, an almost universal rite of many Bantu cultures, a central goal of the ritual was the sacrificing of the self-centered "person" (the child), to give birth to the communal person (the adult woman in this case). Afrikan initiation systems in general produce a communal-minded person, one who identified with an ancestral tradition, and ultimately with the Supreme Being. Discarded is the self- centered person associated with the world of animality and childhood. Therefore the "individualism," which Western culture so highly regards, Afrikan cultures equate to undisciplined adolescence. This brings us to our present problem: we live in a world that champions individualism, lacks rites of passages, stresses materialism. self-advancement, and glorifies the human ego. It is no wonder that people who develop from this system are unable to work with other people nurtured in the same system. Western culture produces egotists. Their idea of the human being is characterized by an individual who has an excessive sense of self-worth. For white people it results in white privilege, and for Black folks it results in the head-nigger-in-charge mentality, which only masks an inferiority complex among other complexes. If the West produces selfish and undisciplined individuals, and the pool from which its leadership arises, then why would we assume that Westernized Afrikans would act any differently? But apart from the typical Afrikan person nurtured in white supremacy, even those persons who develop "positive" self-esteem and self-worth, us Afrikan centered people in particular, we will still suffer from egocentrism. Our Western education and the lack of an initiation and support systems, as well as a worldview that would produce a communal person has certainly overdeveloped our sense of self-worth--our egos. And as long as our potential leaders are egocentric, how can we expect them to unify, unless it is some flimsy so-called operational unity.

I wrote Distorted Truths (DT) for a number of reasons. First I felt that Afrikan centered scholars were missing the mark. That too many were running the same old line, regurgitating Dr. Ben and others. In DT, I go into detail explaining what Dr Ben meant when he said Afrikans deified sex. Though Dr Ben always spoke of the Mystery system, I show that this was in fact the system of initiation, and I offer the Bambara's dyow as an example of a system that perhaps approximated Kemet. I also felt that writers on Kemet rarely presented it anthropologically as an Afrikan society, so this I endeavored to do as well.

Being a student of Diop, after nearly 30 years of teaching history I found that most of my colleagues were unfamiliar with his work and those that were familiar with it, seemed to undervalue or did not appreciated it. So I took the time to present Diop's main contributions to Afrikan historiography. However, there were two problems I encountered in Diop's work. One he explain from the onset-- that he would not deal with the psychological elements of the Kemeyu, but rather with the historical and linguistic elements as they were scientifically verifiable. Secondly, his two cradle theory began with the Afrikan farmer, which I viewed as anachronistic. My work, hence addresses both of these concerns.

I also wrote DT to give some clarity to certain things I always felt were presented confusingly, such as the Kemetic souls. For many years I studied and practice two yoga systems and felt that though these systems emanated from Afrikan people, they were rarely integrated into our history, so I addressed this, though everso lightly, in the context of Kemet.

In recent years, public health experts have acknowledged that lowering the risk of the cancer among people of color in the United States, particularly African Americans, will require diet and environmental changes that can only come about through a combination of government intervention and individual fortitude. However, questions remain about what the ideal food selection should look like for African Americans, a group plagued by significantly high rates of obesity, heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, and other physical ailments. A recent study suggests the answer may lie in the diets of their counterparts across the Atlantic Ocean in the rural parts of the Motherland. In a study conducted at the University of Pittsburgh, 20 African Americans and 20 South Africans switched diets for two weeks. In this time, the Africans consumed traditional American food — meat and cheese high in fat content — while African Americans took on a traditional African diet — high in fiber and low in fat, with plenty of vegetables, beans, and cornmeal, with little meat. After the exchange, researchers performed colonoscopies on both groups and found that those in the African diet group increased the production of butyrate, a fatty acid proven to protect against colon cancer. Members of the American diet group, on the other hand, developed changes in their gut that scientists say precede the development of cancerous cells. “We wanted to show how diet changes cancer, so we used biomarkers and looked at the proliferation rate that has been tied to cancer,” Dr. Stephen J. O’Keefe, the lead researcher, told ThinkProgress. “We were astounded by the gravity and the magnitude of the changes. In Africans, the diet changes produced microbiota that were cancerous. All this happened within two weeks and was quite astounding. The more we talk about diet, this will be important for all Americans, but most importantly African Americans,” said O’Keefe, a professor of medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition at the University of Pittsburgh. Although more than 90 percent of Americans don’t know there’s a link between diet and cancer risk, the American Society for Clinical Oncology recently announced that obesity will soon surpass tobacco as the leading cause of cancer. Since the 1970s, rates of obesity have more than tripled, causing nearly 1 in 5 cancer deaths and $50 billion in healthcare spending, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Previous research has connected obesity with aggressive breast cancer in postmenopausal women and prostate cancer in older men. This risk factors are exacerbated for people of color. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention designates heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes among the top 10 leading causes of death for African Americans. African Americans are 1.8 times more likely to develop Type 2 diabetes and 1.4 times more likely to be obese than their Latino and white counterparts. This holds especially true for those who have sedentary lifestyle, most likely brought on unsafe neighborhood conditions, inadequate access to parks and recreation centers, and long distances to important locations, as outlined in recent reports. In general, health experts contend that a balanced diet that includes bread, fruits and vegetables, dairy, meat and fish in tandem with physical activity can keep people in shape, reducing obesity and ultimately the likelihood of cancer. But the most popular American foods are not always the healthiest. At least one quarter of American adults eat fast food every day, which has been linked to weight gain. This is also true for traditionally African American food, colloquially called “soul food,” which includes a variety of leafy greens, corn, starchy vegetables, grains, fried meats, whole milk and buttermilk. These meals, though full of flavor, contain high levels of fat, cholesterol, and sodium content that significantly correlate with the likelihood of chronic ailments. Soul food was developed during the era when slave masters gave enslaved black people the undesirable cuts of meat. Farming and hunting for wild game — including possums, rabbits, squirrel, and waterfowl — provided African Americans with the ingredients needed for the ideal soul food dish. However, historians say that some of these items didn’t match the food choices that their African ancestors would have made — similar to the experience that Native American communities had after the U.S. government relegated them to settlements where they couldn’t engage in their indigenous lifestyle. For African Americans seeking a balanced diet that incorporates the eating habits of their African counterparts, Oldways, a food and nutrition education nonprofit, created the African Heritage Diet Pyramid, a food model that promotes a diet rich in vegetables, fruit, beans, herbs, spices, and traditional sauces. The model also stresses the importance of physical activity and enjoying meals with others. For some people of color, cultivating that desire to eat healthily and create a bridge to Africa is not without difficulty amid some unfamiliarity about indigenous cuisine. However, the spur in African migration to the United States in the latter half of the 20th century and the opening of African restaurants thereafter has allowed African Americans to connect to their roots through cuisine. In D.C.-based Ghanaian restaurant Appioo African Bar & Grill for example, guests can enjoy a wide selection of dishes low in fat, oil, and salt similar to what rural Africans take a considerable amount of time to prepare. One such dish by the name of Spinach Fish mixes tilapia and spinach with the natural flavors of garlic, red peppers, palm oil, and onions. Patrons can enjoy this meal with a side of boiled plantain. Spinach Fish with Boiled Plantain CREDIT: ThinkProgress/Sam P.K. Collins For many African Americans, particularly those living in low-income communities, adopting this lifestyle may be easier said than done. Even if people of color wanted to incorporate healthy food into their diets, many of them account for the more than 49 million Americans who live in areas with high food insecurity, where the nearest grocery store is more than one mile away from their home. Many times, funds from the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program won’t suffice. Additionally, an inflexible work schedule and the stress of paying bills also relegates many poor people few options beyond purchasing fast food for their families — activities less likely to occur in rural regions of Africa. The federal government has jumped in, doling out more than $500 million to businesses to encourage them to set up shop in food deserts, as part of its Healthy Food Financing Initiative. Effectively changing the diets of low-income families, however requires more than placing healthy food sources in their communities, as shown in a recent studies that designated education level and food preferences as a greater indicators of variety in food intake, highlighting the 10 percent disparity between college-educated and high-school educated households. Researchers, including Dr. O’Keefe, have concluded that changing people’s diets would also require challenging their perceptions about diet and health. O’Keefe, in particular, said he plans to study the issue further as part of an effort to help people of color understand the importance of a balanced diet. “It’s much safer and effective to prevent cancer than to treat it. The earlier you start thinking about what you eat, the better,” O’Keefe said. “With the tobacco-cancer link, it took a lot to stop people from smoking. People are concerned about their health. Many of us have friends and colleagues with colon cancer. We have to keep in mind that even though we’re omnivores, it’s about a balance in meat and fibers.”

The idea that mixed-race children/people are more attractive than either of the races that contributed their DNA to them is not an objective fact, but a subjective and racists belief held by many folks in the Afrikan community. When race-mixing occurs, the person born is one who has two distinct gene pools, one which will be dominant and the other recessive. (This happens even when the persons are of the same race, but the gene pools are usually more similar than dissimilar.) It is the recessive traits that are the most disease bearing. I remember learning in school that most of the traits associated with Afrikan people were dominant over those associated with other races, particularly Caucasoids or Europeans. So, what has actually happened in race-mixing, is you have created a person who genetically has more recessive traits than an Afrikan, but more dominant traits than an European. Putting it is racist terminology, we have created a person genetically inferior to Afrikans but superior to Europeans.

If anything, the above chart suggests that because more dominant traits are possessed by Afrikan people, then if any race is genetically superior, it is us! Now I don't believe in racial superiority, so I don't make that claim or argument; but I do believe a culture can be superior, but only in its ability to produce a society where people can live harmoniously as human being. I understand that I have been somewhat narrow-minded in this post, as the issue of dominant versus recessive traits is not simply interracial but intraracial. But my point in this blog is that race-mixing produces a sort of intermediary type that is stronger than the race that had the recessive traits but weaker than the one that had the dominant traits. And depending upon whom this intermediary type mixes with, he or she will produce either a more or less "superior" genotype. This means that if the mixed-race person produces a child with an Afrikan, the child will still have more dominant genes than its mixed parent but less than its Afrikan one; if the mixed race person mates with a European, then the progeny will have less dominant traits than its mixed-race parent. This has the effect of, in the first case, especially if the child is Black identified, weakening the Black race; and in the second case, if the child is white identified, of strengthening the white race. There was a time when mixed-race person were trapped in the designation as Black, but in contemporary America, this is no longer the case--they have a choice. The new census category of biracial has given the historically-designated mulatto the option of leaving the race. And they are. Given that America is a society based on a class superstratum and racial substratum, mixed-race or biracial people (and Afrikan people in general) when they ascend the economic ladder, will tend to marry the more power racial group, i.e., whites. This genetic enhancement to the white race by these biracial types can only serve as a form of eugenics for white folks. On the other hand, for Afrikan people, if the mixed child chooses to be Black identified, and marries an Afrikan descended person, this has the effect of increasing the level of recessive genes (that are predominant in the white race) into the Black gene pool, which increases the possibility of greater disease exposure. Consequently race mixing can strengthen or weaken a gene pools by either increasing its dominant traits or increasing its recessive traits. Aint that some racist doo-doo.Of course, the latter case, in which Europeans have forced their gene pool upon us, is part and parcel of the history of Afrikan people. My existence is part of that reality. My maternal great great grandmother was a mulatto, an enslaved woman who was the byproduct of rape, her mother being raped by her master. So what am I saying—that I inherited recessive traits from her? Is this an argument against myself or against mixed-race people. Not at all—this is just the science of it all. And the reality of it. I recognize that she is a part of me and I love and respect her as an ancestor. Now, some scholars, particularly Edward Wilmot Blyden, developed a theory about race-mixing, and how it produced a person with confused loyalties. He argued that because many of the early leaders in the Afrikan diaspora were mulattoes, their leadership and loyalties were divided, even suspect. That these persons identified with their white fathers and their Black enslaved mothers, which compromised their politics, their vision, and their leadership. History, however, would proven that even our leaders of “unmixed” Afrikan blood acted identically as their mulatto counterparts. That our leadership had nothing to do with skin color and everything to do with a sense of connectedness, devotion, mindset, and worldview; and worldview ultimately has to do with brain-functioning, which can be culturally conditioned into society. But this requires a vision, which is something that will not occur as long as we view the world through Western eyes. Our problem is we lack the proper worldview orientation, and we continued to ape Western man who is completely lost. When our struggle is deduced to race, it can sidetrack us from the real issue. But then again, race is a real issue? P.S. Ungawa, LOL!

One problem with determining what is and what is not Hip Hop, and who did what, is that all these activities began to crystalize around late ‘75 early ‘76 but was not given a concrete identity until later.They did not coin the term Hip Hop until 1978. (Some say that DJ Hollywood coined it, while others say it was Lovebug Starski,[i] still others say it was MC Keith Cowboy of the Furious Five.) So for almost three years this social phenomenon had no name. This left things wide open for interpretation and in stepped Afrika Bambaataa. Given such a situation, we can expect a certain amount of revisionism. Bambaataa like most of the sources I used was in the habit of moving back the dates of events to give them more authenticity. (Or they either just could not remember.) Like the case of Dee who says he was DJing in Brooklyn with Fantasia in 1969, when in all likelihood, it was in 1972. Bambaataa said he was DJing in 1970, when he was only twelve or thirteen. (Apparently he is counting prepubescent parties. If Dee were DJing in ‘69, it must have been at prepubescent parties too.) Bambaataa has said he started the Zulus when he was sixteen, in 1973. But the Black Spades say Bambaataa was still carrying record crates for Mario in 1970, and according to Fat Mike, and other Black Spades, the Zulu Nation was established after the Blackout of ‘77. Moreover, Bambaataa said he was inspired to start the Zulu Nation after he returned from Afrika, and after seeing the movie Zulu (1964). However, Bambaataa said he did not go to Afrika until ‘75. So then how did he start the Zulus in ‘73? Apparently, in ‘73 Bambaataa organized the Bronx River Organization, which simply became known as the Organization. It was a group that consisted of the Young Spades and the Baby Spades. A purpose of the Organization was to organize cultural events for youth, and it is this group that he transformed into the Zulu Nation in ‘77. (Also, the Zulu Kings preceded the Zulu Nation, and might have subsequently helped to inspire the name.)Herc stated he started DJing in 1970. He said, “His stink started to kick up in 1971.”[ii] However, in that same interview he states his first party was for his sister Cindy. Cindy had a Youth Corp job but wanted additional money for school clothes. Herc says this was his first party, but we can document this party--it was August 13, 1973. (Bambaataa confirms he first heard of Herc in ‘73.) So how and where was he DJing? Was he practicing? Herc’s pre ‘73 DJing must have consisted of him working with his father. They also call the ‘73 party, the first Hip Hop party. Yet how can we call Herc’s first party the first Hip Hop party, when he had not developed break beat DJing, his Merry-Go-Round technique, or his B-boys cadre yet? These developments would occur over the next two years, so why is his 1973 party, his first party, called the first Hip Hop party? And how is Coke La Rock the first MC? What about KC The Prince of Soul, JJ The Disco Kid, Cheba, and Hollywood? These were all MCs that preceded him. La Rock didn’t even rap in Hip Hop style and he wasn’t even the first Hip Hop rapper to call himself an MC: that was reportedly Melle Mel. This is all fluff, a type of one-upmanship to strengthen one’s claims in the development of Hip Hop.Hip Hop Elements and Culture TodayAccording to Bambaataa, four elements compose Hip Hop culture. The elements are as follows: DJing (aural), MCing (aural), Aerosol Writing (visual), and B-boying (physical). Doug E. Fresh added Beat boxing (aural) making it the fifth element. (KRS-One includes Beat boxing in DJing, keeping the number of elements at four.) However, these so-called elements are only elements because Afrika Bambaataa, who founded the Zulu Nation, has coined them as such. I agree with Cholly Rock that a lot of Hip Hop culture predates the development of Hip Hop, and that it derived from the gang culture of the Black Spades in particular. Even Herc credits gangs like the Black Spades with getting the Hip Hop scene started. Rock tells us that at first the break beat DJing and B-boying defined Hip Hop, only later did MCing become important. Of the various elements of Hip Hop culture, some are authentically Hip Hop while others are not. Clearly Hip Hop ushered in a new way of DJing, and in fact, break beat DJing is a forerunner to sampling. B-boying created a totally new style of dancing. B-boying was a by-product of the interaction and interplay between the DJ and the dancers. It developed from Spade Dancing but built upon it. Many moves that B-boys did can be found in older dance routines performed by professional dancers. But what developed in the Bronx was the result of that period. It did, however quickly incorporated moves from other traditions and styles. (For example, Latino brothers would incorporate Mambo and Salsa steps into their B-boying.) It was started by Afrikan Americans, and advanced by various Puerto Rican/Latino dance crews. Beat boxing is also a creation of the period; it was a unique development that occurred within Hip Hop culture, particularly using the voice as a percussive instrument. MCing and Aerosol Writing or Graffiti were both nurtured by Hip Hop culture but in fact existed before its development.As I have already pointed out, rhythm talking predates Hip Hop; moreover, Hip Hop borrowed it from Disco DJing. Rather than calling it MCing, we called it rapping, and it was already a part of the music set, and Hip Hop just incorporated it into their set. DJs in Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens had brothers rapping in Hip Hop style by the late 1970s. What Hip Hop did differently was MCs rhymed to break beats instead of Disco beats. Therefore, Hip Hop culture has falsely credited or been identified with giving birth to rapping or MCing, when this is not true at all.Besides their dancing, the Black Spades were also known for tagging. Tagging was the art of graffiti; usually it was the gang colors or a member’s name. As a young man in Brooklyn I remember people tagging their names all the time. I make this point because although Graffiti or Aerosol Writing is considered an element of Hip Hop culture, it preceded Hip Hop by many years, and we can trace it back directly to gang activity, whether in the Bronx or Brooklyn, or wherever. However, the Ex-Vandals were one of the earliest organized groups (crews) dedicated exclusively to writing aerosol art. The crew originated in Brooklyn in 1970.[iii] Initially it was mostly students from Brooklyn’s Erasmus Hall High School but the group quickly spread to other boroughs. Other crews soon developed. These groups had nothing to do with DJing, MCing or B-boying. Herc, however, is the link--before he became a DJ he was an Ex-Vandals, and that is where he got the name Kool Herc; it was his tag. Nevertheless, like other Hip Hop elements Bambaataa simply adopted Graffiti Writing or tagging and identified it with Hip Hop. By Hip Hop including tagging as one of its elements, it helped to foster its proliferation.Many elements of Hip Hop culture as historically defined, have in the present state of Hip Hop, diminished in importance. Even the funky beats that were the essence of Hip Hop, the funky drum loops or samples, have almost disappeared. DJs have been long overshadowed by MCs and have virtually been replaced by producers. More important, B-boying has faded. It still exists but not on a street or popular level. It is now a highly specialized guild. When was the last time you saw Lil Wayne, Rick Ross or Drake feature B-boying in a video? Graffiti Writing has also waned in importance, and like B-boying has become a specialized guild. For the most part, contemporary Hip Hop culture consists of MCing, which as already suggested, predated the rise of Hip Hop. So in the end, “What is left of Hip Hop culture?”Neighborhoods like individuals naturally view things from their own vantage point. Looking at contemporary Hip Hop, judging from what prevails today, we can say that MCing or rapping is its most salient element. If this is so, then it is easy to see how other boroughs can make a claim to being part of Hip Hop’s origins; if you identify Hip Hop as rhythm talking to music, then the Bronx has no special claim to Hip Hop, especially when the first Hip Hop style rapper is DJ Hollywood, who (some sources say he was born in Queens and) found fame in Manhattan rapping to Disco music.Hollywood makes an interesting point when he reminds us that: If Hip Hop was just Graffiti, or if it was just DJing, or if it was just B-boying, would it be what it is today? Without his contribution, the spoken word (MCing), Hollywood believes Hip Hop culture would not be what it is today.[iv] And he is probably right! Often, Hip Hoppers will disparagingly separate Hollywood’s contribution as rap music, pointing out that it composes only one element of Hip Hop and not to confused it with the culture, which has numerous elements, sometimes as many as seven (knowledge and fashion are often added to the existing five). But Hip Hop as we know it, does have this dual lineage: One, emanating from Kool Herc; and the other, from DJ Hollywood. Herc’s line consisted primarily of his DJing, B-boying, and Aerosol Art (Herc was a graph writer). Hollywood’s line consisted of Hip Hop style rapping or MCing. It was only when the two combined that the world came to know Hip Hop. As this paper has shown, nevertheless, the term Hip Hop and Hip Hop culture as defined by the Zulu Nation, is a very specific thing. And nowhere else but in the Bronx did these elements combine and produce such a creative setting. Its core was the DJing and B-boying but it aptly incorporated Manhattan’s MCing innovation, and Brooklyn’s Aerosol Writing crews. If we accept the facts and arguments presented here, then accordingly, the South-West Bronx has the best, if not only claim, to being its originator. And Kool Herc is its father.As a final note, DJ Mario should be added to the list of the Hip Hop trinity of Herc, Bambaataa, and Flash. Mario was the first to play outdoors, the first to play Hip Hop (in the area), and a Hip Hop impresario, as DJs Bambaataa, Theodore, and Jazzy Jay, as well as others played on his set before branching out on their own. Mario even had one of the first Hip Hop crews, Chuck Chuck City crew. Everyone mentions the role Mario played in Hip Hop, everyone, except Bambaataa (and Herc). Why has Bambaataa conveniently omitted Mario from Hip Hop History when Mario was the person that he used to assist, the one who loaned him his system to DJ with, and the person whom he had his first DJ-Battle against? Why this oversight? Perhaps it is because at a certain point, the Zulu Nation began to lure DJs away from Mario’s crew,[v] making the two competitors. Perhaps, Bambaataa began to see Mario as a nemesis. No one really knows, but it is clear that Mario played a key role in the development of Hip Hop, second only to Herc.[i] Ibid.[ii] http://www.djhistory.com/interviews/kool-herc[iii] http://www.at149st.com/xvandals.html.[iv]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2xR-mc-Ikw, about 1:19:20.[v]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obpO9H8wPnQ

In 1973, Bambaataa says he created the Zulu Nation. By establishing the Zulu Nation, later called the Universal Zulu Nation, Bambaataa codified Hip Hop culture. He then went about defining and developing a history of its origins. Bambaataa, himself, a second-generation Caribbean American, has stated that Hip Hop culture has West Indian origins.[i] I believe he made this statement partly because he, Herc, and Flash all major players in Hip Hop’s development have Afrikan Caribbean roots. But more important, and to his credit, I also think Bambaataa was trying to present Hip Hop’s development as Pan Afrikanist, and inclusive; but this statement has been misread and become an axiom. In order for Hip Hop to have West-Indian roots, however, it must entail more than its contributors having cultural and lineage ties to the islands; Hip Hop itself must bear direct cultural influences that we can trace to the Caribbean. There are three areas in which Jamaican influences are said to have impacted Hip Hop music: The Sound systems, Dub music, and Toasting.Clive Campbell, better known as Kool Herc, arrived in the Bronx in 1967, when he was twelve years old. He was already familiar with the sound systems of Jamaica. Moreover, according to his sister Cindy, their father was a technician for a local band, and had access to sound equipment.[ii] Still, Herc says his musical influences were eclectic, even when in Jamaica. When Herc was asked, did the Jamaican sound systems that were popular in Jamaica and the tri-state area, have any influence on his sets, he said, “no, that they were not involved” in his system or set.[iii] He said he was aware of Jamaican and other sound systems that were larger and more powerful than his, but they had nothing to do with what he was doing. Herc stated he fashioned his sound system after a Bahamian DJ called the Amazing Bert,[iv] who used GLI equipment and played at Fordham University. Kool DJ Dee and Tyrone the Mixologist, however, believe Herc simply copied their system. Dee had his system in early ‘73 at least three months before Herc DJed his first party. Herc was familiar with their setup and later when he built his system it was similar to theirs.Hip Hop DJing, and specifically breakbeat DJing, has been linked to Jamaican dub music. And there appears to be some truth to this. Dub music consisted of remixing previously recorded Jamaican songs minus the vocal tracks, rearranging the instrumental tracks, emphasizing the drum and bass parts, and adding sound effects. Dub became increasingly popular in the early 70s at the same time Hip Hop was developing and apparently it did influence Herc. Herc has credited his Jamaican roots for his early development of break spinning or breakbeat DJing. “Searching for further innovations for his sets, Herc patented the breakbeat, the climatic instrumental section of a record, partly through his existing knowledge of the dub plates or “versions” prevalent in Jamaican reggae.[v] Herc could have only been partly influenced by dub music because, as Bambaataa reminds us, Herc was not the first or only DJ to play and mix “breaks.”[vi] In fact, Disco DJs were mixing the breakdown in the MFSB classic “Love is the Message” probably since late ‘74. So, DJs played breakbeats already,[vii] but Herc soon played them almost exclusively. I would argue that the isolating of the beat and the other innovations in Jamaican dub music gave Herc the license to innovate, to originate. The bass and drum were the heart and soul of Jamaican music. But these were also the heart and soul of funk. Herc’s inspiration for extending break beats thus has a dual inspiration: Dub music and funk music. James Brown--the man, his music, and his dance, also inspired Herc. I say this for a number of reasons.First, Herc has suggested that he was too young while in Jamaica to get into sound system parties so he listened to Brown. He said, “I was listening to American music in Jamaica and my favorite artist was James Brown. That’s who inspired me. A lot of the records I played were by James Brown.” Moreover, according to Herc, “the inspiration for rap is James Brown and the album Hustler’s Convention.”[viii] We can presume, though Herc does not say it, that Hip Hop started with “Give it up Turnit Loose.” (In 1975, Kool Herc replaced it as the Hip Hop anthem with The Incredible Bongo Band’s “Apache.”) It was the oldest song in his set, released in the 60s, while all the others songs were from the early 70s. A Herc favorite, this song featured a percussive break, and we can argue that it was Brown who brought the percussive break in music to prominence.[ix] But it had one of the shortest breaks at approximately 50 seconds. The shortness of this break was reason enough for Herc to want to extend it. There are some exaggerations concerning breakbeat DJing. The idea that Herc pioneered the use of two turntables each playing the same record in order to extend the song, is inaccurate; Pete DJ Jones did it before him.[x] Herc simply used this technique to extend break beats. But many of the songs Herc played were selected because they already had long break beats. For example, the song that Herc made famous, the Bronx/Hip Hop anthem, “Apache,” had a break that was one and a half minutes long. “Scorpio” by Dennis Coffey has one of the longest breaks at over two minutes!Second, Herc’s main reason for extending the break was to allow dancers, his B-boys, time to dance. Brown was one of the first artists to emphasize breaks and at the same time encourage dancers to “get down.” This undoubtedly bolstered the practice of dancers getting down at the “break.” And the first B-boys, the “Nigga Twins” state clearly that James Brown was their source of inspiration. In fact, when they were asked who was the first B-boy they said, “James Brown.”[xi] Herc has also said that the dancers he dubbed B-boys were inspired by James Brown – “That’s the king, the A-1 B-boy . . . . ”[xii]Third, there is the possibility that James Brown may have inspired the growth of Dub music. Herc was not alone as an admirer of James Brown. Though Afrikan American musical influence in Jamaica was greatest in the 1950s, it remained strong during the 60s, despite the rise of Ska. So for example, an early Bob Marley could ask producer Lee “Scratch” Perry to make him sound like James Brown.[xiii][xiv]According to Reggae historian David Katz, Brown was also one of Perry’s heroes.[xv] In fact, it has been argued that the shift from Ska to Rocksteady in Jamaica mirrored the shift from R&B to funk in America.[xvi] And while earlier soul groups influenced some Jamaican artists, the edgier James Brown funk influenced later artists, especially after reggae originated in 1968. (Marley’s “Black Progress” is a reworking of Brown’s “Say it Loud—I’m Black and I’m Proud.”) Brown was popular in Jamaica, and some Jamaican drummers since the 1960s were influenced partly by his music. Moreover, Brown as early as 1969 was experimenting with elements that were simultaneously developing in Jamaican dub, such as removing the vocals from tracks (instrumentals), adding instrumentation (overdubbing), and using sound effects (reverb and applause overdubbing). Therefore, the question can be asked, like Jamaican Toasting earlier, could Afrikan American influences, in this case James Brown, have influenced the growth of Jamaican Dub music? Though Brown’s influence was significant in Jamaica, I do not believe this to be the case. First, we cannot connect King Tubby, the pioneer of Dub music, to Brown. Second, Dub was discovered by accident, and independently.[xvii] Therefore, we must reject this hypothesis. My only reason for this dialogue is that Herc’s Jamaican inspiration for breakbeat DJing, Dub music, was likely encouraged, reinforced, and supported by the musical innovations Brown was also making.Lastly, Herc was a DJ and his early MCs were not exceptional. What made his set unique was the DJing and the dancing—not the MCing. Dub music, on the other hand, from its beginnings witnessed the music and toasting (MCing) develop simultaneously and nurture each other. This was not the case with Herc’s set and he shows little influence from dub music in this regard. His purpose in extending the break was for dancing, not so that MCs could rhyme. Herc has been incorrectly credited with introducing MCing/toasting to Hip Hop, when in reality he was about the music and the dance, and both were James Brown inspired. As mentioned above, sometimes it is claimed Herc also influenced Hip Hop by introducing the Jamaican Toasting style, giving birth to Hip Hop MCing. “We just took the Jamaican style and put it to American records,”[xviii] says Bambaataa. When Herc was asked did he begin as a Reggae DJ, he stated that he would sometimes play U-Roy or Marley, but that was more for his personal liking. Reggae was not part of his set. When asked about the relationship between Jamaican Toasting and Hip Hop, Herc responded, “Jamaican toasting? Nah, nah. No connection there. I couldn’t play reggae in the Bronx. People wouldn’t accept it.[xix] Additionally, when Herc was asked, “Did Coke La Rock,” who Herc has called the first “MC,” “rhyme in a style reminiscent of Big Youth?” he replied, “Nah.” Bambaataa has also pointed out that while he introduced Reggae to his set, Herc who was from the islands “focused more on America, on funky stuff.” (Herc was not a Jamaican DJ as much as he was a DJ who was Jamaican.) So when Bambaataa tries to tie MCing with Jamaican Toasting, it is a claim that his mentor has discredited. It is also a claim that belies history.All the various early Afrikan American MCs said they were imitating the style of radio DJs. MCs in Jamaica were likewise inspired by radio DJs.[xx] The Jamaican vocalist and pioneer of toasting was U-Roy, who made his first recording in 1969, “Dynamic Fashion Way.” (Some say “Earth Rightful Ruler” was first, which was also recorded in ‘69 with Peter Tosh and produced by Lee “Scratch” Perry.) U-Roy would become increasingly popular throughout the 1970s. But U-Roy cites Count Matchuki as a major influence on his work. Who was Count Matchuki?His name was Winston Cooper and he was the first Jamaican DJ. A point of clarification is needed: In the US a DJ is the person who plays the music; while in Jamaica, that person is called a Selector. The person who talks over the song is called an MC in the US, while he is called a DJ/Toaster in Jamaica. When Matchuki was asked, “The jive talk that you did – did it just come out of you?” he responded “No. To be honest, what gave me that idea, I was walking late one night about a quarter to three somewhere in Denham Town. And I hear this guy on the radio, some American guy advertising Royal Crown hairdressing….This guy sound like a machine! A tongue twister! I heard that in 1949 on one of them States stations that was really strong. I hear this guy sing out pon the radio and I just like the sound and I say to myself I think I can do better. I would like to play some recordings and just jive talk like this guy.”[xxi][i]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTO9bqJQoj4. [ii] http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20130809-the-party-where-hip-hop-was-born.[iii]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJkojOSppUE, about 19:00.[iv] Ibid, about 24:10.[v] http://www.globaldarkness.com/articles/kool_herc_thestory.htm. [vi] http://www.djhistory.com/interviews/afrika-bambaataa.[vii]I was at a block party in ’75, when a DJ mixed the beginning of the instrumental “Do it anyway you wanna do it” by People’s Choice, eleven times, emphasizing that bad beat.[viii] http://phrecordings.com/news/jamaicanrootsindjc/.[ix]"Cold Sweat" is the first recording in which Brown calls for a drum solo (with the famous exclamation “give the drummer some”) from Clyde Stubblefield, beginning the tradition of rhythmic “breaks” that would become important in dance music. http://revive-music.com/2011/08/11/james-brown-cold-sweat/.[x] http://hiphopandpolitics.com/2014/01/15/hip-hop-loses-pioneer-remember-pete-dj-jones/.[xi] http://balous1.tripod.com/70s.htm.[xii] http://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/jun/13/dj-kool-herc-block-party.[xiii]http://michelconci.blogspot.com/2012/10/james-brown-and-reggae.html.[xiv] http://www2.gibson.com/news-lifestyle/features/en-us/rita-marley-on-bob-0203.aspx.[xv] http://michelconci.blogspot.com/2012/10/james-brown-and-reggae.html.[xvi]https://books.google.com/books?id=AZDiAAAAQBAJ&pg=PT46&lpg=PT46&dq=ska,+rocky+steady+soul+and+funk&source=bl&ots=qx7lJZ06gK&sig=kvihygZV7wnjUiiwGvbxVJItMSI&hl=en&sa=X&ei=yQNiVZOaKbLbsASHqYLYDA&ved=0CCEQ6AEwATgK#v=onepage&q=ska%2C%20rocky%20steady%20soul%20and%20funk&f=false[xvii]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dub_%28music%29#History[xviii] Ibid.[xix]Icons of Hip Hop An Encyclopedia of the Movement, Music, and Culture, Volume 2, edited by Mickey Hess, p. 12.[xx]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2xR-mc-Ikw, about 9:00.[xxi] http://www.dancecrasher.co.uk/interviewsdiscogs/hip-to-the-jive-and-stay-alive/.